The present invention relates to a method for processing silver halide color photographic materials, and more particularly to a method which allows for a significant reduction in the amount of water used in washing and stabilizing steps.
The conventional processing of silver halide photographic materials involves washing and stabilizing steps which require the use of a lot of water. For various reasons, such as the need to clean up the environment, limited water resources, and the increasing cost of water, many proposals for using less water in photographic processing have been put forward. S. R. Goldwasser, for instance, proposed in "Water Flow Rates in Immersion-Washing of Motion Picture Film", Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Vol. 64, pp. 248-253, May, 1955, a method for reducing the wash water by having the flow of water in adjacent wash tanks arranged to run counter to the direction of travel of the paper. This method has been acclaimed as being an effective method of saving water and has been adopted by many laboratories for incorporation in their automatic developers. However, it was later found that the wash water containing the ferric ion and thiosulfate carried over from the bleaching and fixing, respectively, is highly labile and that a significant reduction in the amount of wash water causes the additional problem of the formation of various precipitates and suspended solids resulting from the prolonged residence time of the wash water. The deposits and suspended solids formed in the wash water will adhere to the processed paper or may clog or soil the filters in the automatic developer, inducing one or more troubles in the machine.
In order to solve these problems, many methods have been proposed for preventing the formation of precipitates in wash water. For example, L.E. West proposed the addition of chelating agents or bactericides in Water Quality Criteria, Photographic Science and Engineering, Vol. 9, p. 6, 1965. Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 8542/82, 105145/83 and 157244/82 (the term "OPI" as used herein refers to a "published unexamined Japanese patent application".) disclose the addition of mold inhibitors, but, for various reasons (e.g., low solubilities of the inhibitors, their potential toxicity, poor ability to prevent suspended solids or sediment formation, and impaired image stability), no completely satisfactory results have been obtained. Methods for adding chelating agents are described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 8542/82, 58143/82, 132146/82, and 18631/83, but no satisfactory results have been attained, either, because the chelating agents employed are either insufficient in their effectiveness against the formation of suspended solids or precipitates, or likely to cause adverse effects on the keeping quality of the image. Sulfites may be used in combination with chelating agents as described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 97530/82, 88738/84, and 88739/84, but the effectiveness of this approach is also below the desired level.
Other problems associated with the incorporation of bactericides, antiseptics, and other compounds having similar effects within the wash water or stabilizing bath employed in the processing of photographic materials are that they are highly likely to cause the fading of dyes or the progressive staining of the image with time. The incidence of such problems is particularly high if bactericides or antiseptics are added to the last bath, since the additives will remain in the processed photographic material.